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Weekly Roundup
SA in 'favourable' position to roll out dexamethasone
The national Health Department says South Africa is in a "favourable" position to immediately roll out dexamethasone to all seriously ill COVID-19 patients. Health...
EC school in isolation after 204 teachers and pupils test positive
The Eastern Cape Health Department is considering converting Makaula Senior Secondary School into an isolation facility after 204 people there tested positive for COVID-19....
Eastern Cape increases hospital capacity to cope with beds crisis
All private hospitals in Nelson Mandela Bay have suspended non-urgent surgeries and admissions and two are bringing staff from other provinces as facilities are...
SA pharmacists caution on use of dexamethasone to prevent COVID-19
The Independent Community Pharmacy Association has raised alarm over the use of dexamethasone to prevent COVID-19, reports Eyewitness News.
Use of the steroid has been...
UK officials urgently review evidence on vitamin D amid BAME concerns
Public health officials in the UK are urgently reviewing the potential ability of vitamin D to reduce the risk of coronavirus, reports The Guardian....
COVID-19 no longer classified as 'high consequence infectious disease' in UK
As of 19 March 2020, COVID-19 is no longer considered to be a high consequence infectious disease (HCID) in the UK. The four-nations public...
Canadian hospital staff 'played racist game' betting on blood alcohol levels
A Canadian province is investigating claims that healthcare staff played a racist ‘game’ by betting on the blood alcohol level of indigenous patients. According...
Fauci: US sees 'disturbing surge' of infections in some states
The US is seeing a “disturbing surge” of COVID-19 infections in some parts of the country, as Americans ignore social distancing guidelines and states...
Ramaphosa launches Africa medical supplies portal
An Africa medical supplies portal, a single continental marketplace which allows countries to access critical medical supplies, will ensure that the continent is not...
Burst pipe floods five paediatric wards at Charlotte Maxeke Hospital
A burst pipe at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital flooded five paediatric wards as staff scrambled to move patients to other wards and hospitals....
Sinovac reports back on preliminary COVID-19 vaccine study
Sinovac Biotech has announced preliminary study results showing its experimental COVID-19 vaccine generated immune responses in patients and was safe – early data that...
New Zealand scrambles military to prevent further quarantine blunders
The New Zealand prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, has branded as an “unacceptable failure” a quarantine blunder that meant two arrivals from Britain left managed...
China races to control new COVID-19 outbreak in wholesale food market
China's capital city is racing to control a fresh coronavirus outbreak, with 75 cases linked to a single wholesale food market in Beijing where...
Johnson & Johnson initiates first-in-human clinical trial of COVID-19 vaccine
Johnson & Johnson has announced that through its Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies it has accelerated the initiation of the Phase 1/2a first-in-human clinical trial of...
Israel in talks to buy Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine
Israel is in advanced talks with Moderna to buy its coronavirus vaccine that is entering the final stage of testing, Reuters News reports that...
Pandemic derails anti-FGM drive in Kenya
The coronavirus pandemic is jeopardising Kenya's goal of ending female genital mutilation (FGM) by 2022. Campaigners are reporting ‘mass cuttings’ of girls who are...
Women in Northern Ireland struggle to access abortion services
Women seeking abortions in Northern Ireland are still struggling to access services. The Guardian reports that although abortion was legalised more than two months...
COVID-19 to impact on Discovery's earnings through to 2022
The COVID-19 pandemic is certainly keeping number crunchers busy and will for some time. And, says a Business Maverick report, as a health insurer,...
NICD releases detailed data on demographics of those infected by COVID-19
Hospital data released by the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) has provided more insight into the race, gender, sex and underlying health issues...
Mkhize releases details of salary payments to Cuban doctors
The South African government will pay more than R239m in salaries for the 187 members of the Cuban medical brigade, who, according to Minister...
AstraZeneca may be 'close to a breakthrough' on COVID-19 antibody treatment
Scientists working on coronavirus treatments may be close to a breakthrough on an antibody treatment that could save the lives of people who become...
Western Cape Health wants to hire 4,000 doctors and nurses
Western Cape Health Department is advertising 5,272 posts for health workers, with 4,004 of them being for doctors and nurses ahead of the anticipated...
R1.1bn from provinces for upgrades for SA health facilities to fight pandemic
Provinces in South Africa could pump an estimated R1.1bn into upgrades at nearly 200 health facilities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Provincial departments...
Tygerberg Hospital closes 4 departments for sanitisation
Four clinical departments at the Tygerberg Hospital have been closed for sanitisation. According to a Cape Argus report this comes after the Department of...
Western Cape COVID-19 field hospital receives its first patients
The first patients have been admitted to a special COVID-19 field hospital in the Western Cape, The Times reports the province has announced. Cape...
Nehawu criticises conditions at PE's Livingstone Hospital
The National Education Allied Health Workers Union (Nehawu) has criticised the Eastern Cape Health Department over conditions in the emergency unit of Livingstone Hospital,...
Brazil stops publishing total of COVID-19 deaths and infections
Brazil's government has stopped publishing a running total of coronavirus deaths and infections in an extraordinary move that critics call an attempt to hide...
Surge in attacks on African sex workers following pandemic restrictions
Women engaging in sex work have always been more vulnerable to violence, but a surge in attacks on sex workers since COVID-19 restrictions came...
Mink farmers in Holland cull animals infected with COVID-19
Dutch mink farms have begun a government-ordered cull over concern that animals infected with coronavirus could transmit it to humans reports The Guardian. Infected...
$8.8bn pledged to boost vaccine programmes stalled by COVID-19
Governments, companies and individuals around the world have pledged $8.8bn for a global vaccines alliance to help immunisation programmes stalled by the coronavirus pandemic...
CDC 'clarifies' guidance on surface spread of COVID-19
The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention is clarifying its guidance to prevent the coronavirus from spreading, hoping to clear up confusion over...
WHO: No evidence that COVID-19 losing its potency
World Health Organisation experts and a range of other scientists have found no evidence to support an assertion by a high-profile Italian doctor that...
Russia to roll out first approved drug to fight COVID-19
Russia will begin rolling out its first approved drug in the fight against coronavirus which it describes as “a game changer” starting next week,...
Public Health England: UK's ethnic minorities at higher risk of COVID-19 death
People from ethnic minorities are at a higher risk of dying from coronavirus, BBC News reports a report by Public Health England says. It...
Western Cape Premier: HIV a major COVID-19 co-morbidity for under-60s
In an update on the coronavirus, Western Cape Premier Alan Winde writes on the Politicsweb site:
The Western Cape government has conducted another review of...
PANDA: An open letter to Ramaphosa challenging lockdown
Nick Hudson, a co-ordinator at Pandemic Data and Analytics (PANDA) has sent an open letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa questioning the wisdom on the...
SA blood services looking at ways to use blood plasma to treat COVID-19
There is an international rush to develop vaccines and treatment options for the COVID-19 and effective treatments are crucial for curing patients. An IoL...
Eli Lilly begins first human tests of an antibody drug against COVID-19
Researchers have begun testing what appears to be the first new medicine developed specifically against COVID-19, in a milestone for drug companies aiming to...
Eastern Cape Health estimates 80% of province's people will contract COVID-19
About 80% of people in the Eastern Cape are likely to contract COVID-19 estimates the Eastern Cape Health, reports HeraldLIVE.
The estimate is contained in a report...
KZN Health to hire 5,000 nurses and hospital staff
Almost 5,000 nurses and general hospital staff will be employed by the KwaZulu-Natal Health Department over the next two weeks. The Times reports this...